Ciprel IV

active

The existing CIPREL SA (“CIPREL”) power plant located in the port of Vridi, the southern part of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, consists of 5 gas turbines (GTs) installed in 3 Phases between 1995 and 2009. The investment consists in the: (i) expansion of the existing CIPREL 321 MW natural gas-fired power plant by adding 111MW steam cycle capacity to 2 x 111MW open cycle gas turbines (GT9 and GT10), converting them into a combined cycle operation, and (ii) retrofitting GT9 and GT10 to Dry Low NOx technology for NOx emissions reduction (together the “Project”). Grid connection through underground cables to connect the gas turbines and the steam turbine to nearby Vridi substation has already started.The Project estimated total cost is approximately €250 million; the proposed IFC investment includes an IFC A loan and a client risk management instrument (interest rate hedging) for an aggregate amount of up to €108 million. In addition, IFC is mobilizing the remaining balance of the required debt amount for the Project through the African Development Bank and PROPARCO.The Project, expected to enhance the efficiency of the power plant by generating 25.5% more power without the use of additional gas, will be developed, designed, constructed and operated under a 24- year Build-Own-Operate-Transfer arrangement (“BOOT”). The Project will sell its power to the Government of Côte d’Ivoire (GoCI) through the “Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité” (“CIE”), the private transmission and distribution Company.CIPREL S.A. was created in 1994 under the laws of Côte d’Ivoire and the first Independent Power Producer (“IPP”) to be developed in the country. CIPREL has been in operations for close to 20 years. IFC had an earlier investment in CIPREL between 1998 and 2006; the E&S performance was deemed generally satisfactory during that period.